


Caught in the Middle

by noo



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Felicity is being inflexible, Metafiction, Oliver is a dumarse, Reflection, Spoilers, episode: 3x12, so nothing has really changed...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-06
Updated: 2015-02-06
Packaged: 2018-03-10 16:55:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3297653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noo/pseuds/noo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John Diggle had had enough of his friends. They were now making him be all self-reflecting and stuff instead of just enjoying watching his daughter sleep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Caught in the Middle

**Author's Note:**

> So count this as my little meta-fic from last night's episode as I had a thought that both Oliver and Felicity would talk to Diggle at some stage, leaving the poor man right in the middle. He would most definitely see that they were both right in a way, but they just damn well needed to talk to each other and not him!
> 
> I couldn't wait for my bestie beta to get home, so I'm actually posting this without it being betaed. Eek! Please let me know if you catch any mistakes!

Looking down at his daughter while she slept should have calmed his thoughts. It was why he was here, seeking that calm which would then help him find the right thing to do. He only got it these days from staring at a peaceful, sleeping Sara. He could see both sides, and that is where he was now stuck-- in the middle between two of the most stubborn and idealistic people he was pleased to call friends.

Oliver would do anything he could to protect those he loved, even at the detriment of his own happiness. He had thought the man had learned enough from the past to grab some moments of happiness where he could. It had seemed it was going to be that way, that Oliver could have some peace. Sure the guy could meditate with the best of them, but what best calmed him and kept him level was a small, formidable woman.

Felicity. She pushed them all to be their best. She pushed herself and set standards she tried so desperately to live up to, to be that heart and moral guiding light. That brain of hers was intimidating and Digg has known some pretty damn intimidating women in his life. What made Felicity special though was her smile, her joy and lightness to go with that amazing intelligence and steel core.

Oliver. Initially he had thought was just some dumb spoiled rich brat of a douchebag. He was a man of many faces but really only one that counted. He was right. Thea _was_ innocent and deserved to be protected from Ra’s. Was aligning with Merlyn the right way? Oliver had died twice already, both at Merlyn’s instigation. Would he die again from losing Felicity’s trust and her love, all because of Merlyn once more? Ra’s wouldn’t just come after Oliver, Merlyn and Thea. He would come after the city and Diggle was sure that he would go after what Oliver loves most, Felicity.

Felicity needed to understand that, but she was their light too. She was right in that walking with Merlyn would lead to darkness. For the city to move ahead it needed to seek light and enjoyment, but Digg knew that just like during war, the darkness made the light worth seeking and appreciating. Sometimes the darkness needed to be embraced so you could enjoy the light. It was a balance and, dammit, he was starting to sound like Oliver at his most infuriating mystical eastern philosophical moments. She had told Digg about their ‘talk’, that she didn’t want to be a “woman he loved”. Knowing Felicity, Oliver wouldn’t have gotten a chance of getting a word in, no matter her complaints to Digg that Oliver was wrong. Digg had seen so many times before that just with a look of disappointment or censure, Oliver would freeze and not be able to answer her. For a man with the reputation he had with women it sure had been amusing to see him at a loss for words and composure around that little slip of a woman. Felicity couldn’t control anothers heart, though. The world couldn’t be switched on and off and kept under control like her computers. She couldn’t write some code to get people to behave how she wants.

Oliver _had_ loved, and their endings had most definitely not been the happily ever after. Felicity had ranted to him when Digg finally managed to push her to fess up that she didn’t want to be Thea or Sara. Thea was an unwitting killer, but that definite spoiled brat of a girl had grown into a mature woman. Digg just wished people would be honest with her. She might surprise a few people. Sara made her own choices and while Oliver loved her, he didn’t _Love_ her. Sara loved another. There were two that Felicity left out.

Moira. She died protecting her children with her last breath. A soldier understands sacrifice, so Felicity and he would always be at odds there about Moira. While Felicity and he both agreed about most of Moira’s past exploits, her love for her children and her attempts to make amends for her past were commendable. That left the one woman still around.

Laurel. She hadn’t been a favorite of his, but she was slowly growing on him. Slowly. She had the idealism of Felicity and that desire to do right, but she was a little more cynical and understanding of the world with a willingness to do things a bit outside. She’d made some monumental blunders in her life. Oliver had loved her and hurt her. He was different from that boy that had been selfish and scared and stupid. Laurel was different. She was a survivor of some personal tragedy. Oliver hadn’t destroyed her. He had helped make her the strong woman she was becoming.

Sara gurgled in her sleep, a little stretch and then she settled back down again, peaceful and calm and dragging him out of his thoughts and back to now, where they were as a team. There was nothing he could do for Oliver and Felicity but be their friend, he realized. Knocking their heads together wouldn’t achieve much, both of them too hard and set at the moment to get anything through. Oliver needed to actually make Felicity sit and listen for once. Felicity needed to realize that while she wanted to claim the high moral ground at the moment, there were a lot of felonies that could be placed at her door. No one person was perfect. 

Sometimes the moral high ground had to be conceded. He just wished the pair of them would talk properly and not to him, leaving him like this. In the middle between the pair of them. If they could finally actually just damn well talk to each other, then they might be able to take that walk off the moral high ground together. And he might get some calm and peaceful sleep, just like his little baby girl right now. Who was he kidding, that was a long way away, but one day, it might just happen. That’s why they did this, all of them. That promise.


End file.
